Monday, July 22, 2013

The Ancient History of Google Maps

Geodia is a spatial timeline of ancient Mediterranean archaeology and material culture. An interactive timeline synchronised to a Google Map allows users to explore geographic sites and events from the fourth millennium BC to ca. 330 AD.

The site was designed to serve as an instructional resource, to help students in introductory courses in archaeology and art-history make sense of the spatial, temporal and visual complexity of the ancient Mediterranean, and visualise connections and differences across space and time.

The site is divided into a number of areas,
including a series of case studies, numerous historic maps, and a huge
searchable database. The "Empires" section illustrates the march of
empires across the Middle East, from the development of the first
Egyptian state in about 3000 BCE to the Ottoman Empire in 1918 CE. The
'Empires' Google Map includes the option to view an animated time-line
of these empires.